Top 5 scariest abandoned prisons from around the world

No one likes prisons or would ever want to go there, but there are some of them around the world so scary that only the name sends shivers down your spine. Many of them were closed after a series of awful events, murders, riots, and are now abandoned.

People have always been attracted by mystery and especially life after death. When strange things begin to happen and you do not find any logical explanation, you start to wonder about spirits or ghosts. There is a whole industry developed on this theory, from TV shows to books. It is said that a human being marks his territory by giving a personal touch to the place he is living in or to the things that he does. But when something terrible happens in a place, like many prisons, they become really scary and a lot of legends and stories appear about those abandoned and so call haunted prisons. There are a lot of movies about those places, and many of them are considered a perfect place for a great scary movie or some kind of reality based movie.

One of these places isMoundsville West Virginia Penitentiary.

This is a gothic style prison that was opened in 1876 and was closed in 1995. This prison housed a large number of inmates, both males and females, and it was built to house the most dangerous criminals at the time. Most of the inmates housed in those 129 years while it was opened died there. Some of them died from natural causes but most of them from violence, suicides or executions. The prison had a so called “death house” where inmates were executed, by hangings at the beginning and by an electric chair later. It is considered one of the scariest places because of the murders, tortures and violence that took place there and it is said that it is not unusual to hear footsteps or frightening noises, screams and cries inside the penitentiary.

Another scary prison is the Ohio State Reformatory, also known as Mansfield Reformatory.

It opened in September 1896 when 150 offenders were housed. Until December 31, 1990, when its doors were shut down, it housed over 155,000 men. It was design as a combination of three architectural styles: Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Ann and was established as a place where local young boys would be locked in, many times cell keys were “lost” and the local locksmith had to be called for “emergency” lockout services. Mansfield Reformatory objective was to reform young men in a spiritual way. Sadly, there were other things happening there, violence, sadness, torture, despair, death, so the stories have appeared. Many visitors said that they heard strange noises, conversations, screams, smelled unusual scents or saw apparitions.

The third scary prison is the Frontier Prison from Rawlings, Wyoming.

It also goes by the name “Old Pen”, and it was opened around 1900’s. The prison closed its doors in the early 1980’s and now it is a famous tourist attraction. Many visitors said that there are some places inside the facility that are very emotionally intense. It feels like a very hostile environment and they feel an immense fear. Also, there seem to have been a lot of paranormal activity, such as voices, sounds or apparitions in different places like showers, the Chapel, some cells or the death row.

Another scary prison is the Eastern State Penitentiary.

It is located in Philadelphia and was functional from 1829 until 1971. This prison has housed crime committers and the inmates were not allowed to talk, sing, read or communicate at all or they were punished, not being allowed to have any food or water. Many horrible tortures happened there and it is now believed that the souls of the tortured ones still roam the prison. A lot of screams, cries, or appearances were reported and this negative energy transmitted by this prison makes it one of the scariest.

The most famous abandoned prison is Alcatraz from San Francisco.

This prison, also known as “The Rock” or “Devil’s Island” operated for 29 years and was built on an island in such manner that made escaping impossible. The inmates have endured some inhumane conditions, many of them going insane because of the lack of contact with the outside world or the harsh treatment applied by the prison officials. It is now mentioned in many films or legends because of its unique, scary design and location.